Defending Florida's Ecosystems & Communities

A federal court rules on long running disputes regarding the need for Florida to promulgate numeric water quality standards. In 2008, conservation organizations had sued EPA under the CWA for failing to establish numeric nutrient water quality criteria for most of the state’s waters (after the state had also failed to do so). In 2009, EPA enters into a consent decree with the plaintiffs agreeing to promulgate new criteria. The State later developed new criteria, which EPA approved, and conservation organizations challenged. The federal court upheld several of the new criteria while invalidating others (which the State has now revised).